Coleman, Hebert and the NFB on Population Explosion

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) was created in 1939 following a series of recommendations made by noted British documentarist John Grierson. From its inception, the NFB had as its mandate to “interpret Canada to Canadians and other nations.” But the NFB was not strictly about propaganda and didactic exercises. It was also the site where Canadians filmmakers were given liberties to experiment and explore the medium of cinema.

In 1956, the NFB moved its offices to Montreal, thereby providing a safe haven for Quebec artists frustrated by the conservative and reactionary regime of the Duplessis government. The NFB served as a training school and a “point de ralliement” for Quebec filmmakers. The latter did face a number of challenges within the walls of the federal agency but there is no doubt that the NFB, in the late 1950s, provided an environment where Quebec filmmakers enjoyed relative autonomy to articulate their political views.

By the early 1960s, the NFB had established itself as a leader in the production of animation films. The creation of animation studios, where small teams were free to experiment and create directly under the camera, resulted from the NFB’s policy of encouraging innovations and spontaneity in the creative process. Many Quebec filmmakers took advantage of the federal institution’s presence in Montreal, including Pierre Hébert whose work has been recognized and celebrated both here and abroad.

At the NFB, Hébert quickly became known for his favorite animation technique which consisted of scratching images directly on film stock. But by the mid-1960s, he turned to paper cut-outs and became increasingly concerned with political issues (visit his site for more recent works).

The 1968 film Population Explosion is a product of that period. The film presents a somewhat simplistic overview of a complex problem although this is not unusual for pedagogical films produced at the NFB during the sixties. Population Explosion is not one of my favorites from Hébert but the film stands out nonetheless because of its astounding soundtrack.

On August 2, 1966, Ornette Coleman arrived at the NFB’s Studio 2 accompanied by bassist David Izenzon and drummer Charles Moffett. The trio had just recorded the landmark album At the “Golden Circle” Stockholm and were now in Montreal to record material for Hébert’s animation film. The session lasted until August 5th and featured Coleman on the violin, trumpet and alto saxophone.

The entire session is now available in a box-set dedicated to the work of Hébert. The Science of Moving Images contains Coleman’s music as well as more than 20 films by one of the pillars of the NFB.

Robert Daudelin, the former director general of La Cinémathèque Québécoise, writes, “although it can be hard listening because of all the retakes, it is still a rare opportunity to hear Ornette Coleman at work, sculpting a theme and detailing his input. The violin is very present (Death, Famine, Epidemic, Birth Control) and the almost Davis-like trumpet appears frequently (The War, Famine), but it’s the fluid alto that dominates in the dancing themes that Ornette always favoured (Birth, Children, Nurses, Foreign Aid, Technical Assistance).”

“Film music, music in film – this Ornette Coleman-Pierre Hébert collaboration is a fine example of that natural and yet so rarely successful meeting of jazz and cinema,” Daudelin concludes.

Listen to a few excerpts from the soundtrack:
ORNETTE COLEMAN AT THE NFB

…and/or enjoy another short film by Hébert featuring the music of Robert Lepage and René Lussier.

Songs and Dances of the Inanimate World: The Subway
Pierre Hébert,1985, 14 min 23 s

In this animated film without words, filmmaker Pierre Hébert and musicians Robert Lepage and René Lussier worked together, and separately, in their respective media. This cinema/music performance recreates, impressionistically, the dehumanizing environment of the urban subway. Drawings etch the outlines of people hurtling through space in underground tunnels. The soundtrack, elemental and atonal, gives compelling expression to their alienation.